page_title: Superpower (ability)
section_title: Superpower diversification
hierarchical_section_title: Superpower (ability) / Definition / Superpower diversification
caption_attribution_description: English: Mock-up illustration depicting an online character profile for a superhero-themed RPG. Artwork by Simon Kirby; traditional media enhanced in photoshop. Educational purpose: to illustrate terms such as role playing game, character editor, character profile, non/player character etc.
context_page_description: Superpower is a popular culture term for an imaginary superhuman ability. They are most frequently used in pulp magazines, comic books, science fiction, television programs, video games, and films as the key attribute of a superhero. The concept originated in American comic books and pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, and has gradually worked its way into other genres and media.
context_section_description: The 1970s brought the development of role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Superhero-themed games soon followed, but within the game mechanics of role-playing game systems, issues such as the name or visible effects of a form of attack became apparent. The Champions role-playing game handled this by describing powers by their effects rather than their causes; for example, a laser and a lightning bolt were both considered to be forms of a ranged attack. Another issue was that some powers were simply more useful than others in terms of gameplay; Champions handled this as well by assigning each power a "value" in a point system, with more powerful or useful abilities costing more points to "buy." Champions also gave players options to modify their characters' powers, allowing each character's abilities to be unique. This system has influenced many other similar games since.
  In the 1980s, Marvel Comics began publishing their Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series, in which the powers of their characters were explained in great detail, often using scientific and pseudo-scientific terms. Issues of persecution in relation to the possession of superpowers have also been expanded upon; an example of this is the persecution of mutants in the X-Men series.
caption: Role-playing games often described superpowers in terms of numeric values.
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